1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method, an apparatus, and their utilization for operating a motor vehicle having a drive motor and an automated or automatic transmission in the drive train for transmitting torque, and a transmission control unit that includes a memory function, in particular to improve driving comfort.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods for controlling and/or regulating an automated/automatic transmission are known. For example, a clutch arranged between a drive motor and a transmission in a drive train is increasingly actuated automatically, wherein an actuator that operates the clutch is controlled by a control device in accordance with the operating conditions of the motor vehicle. In that way, there is controlled or regulated an automated disengagement and reengagement of the clutch during a gear, an engagement at a startup procedure from a standing position, or a disengagement of the clutch at a braking procedure to a standing position. With those known processes, automation of the drive train of a motor vehicle is made possible. With a preset gear shifting strategy, it is possible to implement shifting processes during the driving operation of the motor vehicle, without the driver having to shift gears himself. Automatic or automated transmissions in motor vehicles normally shift in accordance with preset shifting programs, which allow the various parameters of the particular motor vehicle conditions and requirements of the driver to be included in the calculation of an appropriate speed ratio condition of the transmission.
In modern motor vehicles, means for communication among the individual components of the drive train are also available, for example in the form of a CAN bus or the like. However, those are used predominantly for the exchange of sensor data in a multiple utilization technique. Furthermore, by means of communication the control systems are influenced during certain processes, for example in order to retrieve driver-specific settings from electronic memories. Thus, at the push of a button, for example, different seating positions, steering wheel, head rest, climate control, and mirror positions can be retrieved by the system and can be implemented by corresponding control mechanisms. These days, in modern motor vehicles those special parameters are stored as data in the driver's key and in the motor vehicle's locking system, and can be linked together and compared by corresponding transmitting systems. Thus those key data provide a clear identification of a particular driver. Those functions are referred to as “Car Memory” or “Key-less Go.”
In the area of transmission control, so-called adaptive transmission control systems exist, in which the special driving style of the driver, for example the position of the accelerator pedal or the adjustment gradients of the accelerator pedal position, is read-in and programmed in by a series of factors. Following an evaluation process, the corresponding shift characteristics and shift processes are adjusted to those factors. Thus it is possible, for example, to make a selection in terms of both shift characteristics and shift processes between a sporty setting and a more economical setting for the driving style.
Furthermore, it has been found that in particular through a basic interruption in tractive force, such as occurs, for example, with a normal manual transmission, there can result jerking movements or pitching movements of the motor vehicle, which the driver experiences as unpleasant.
The objects of the invention relate, in a motor vehicle with an automatic transmission, to                avoiding the engine racing when the clutch is engaged after an R-D shift,        making the identification parameters of the driver available to the transmission control system, and        increasing driving comfort during shifting and clutch disengagement processes.        